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Friday, November 16, 2012

Who says Dark angels can not beat Vanilla Marines?

I had a hard fought battle against some Salamanders. The Angels performed admirably and eked out a win. The Game was Emperor's Will with Hammer and Anvil deployment. This was a 1000 point battle and the first battle in our Planetary Empires campaign. As such, my opponent got a single USR for his list and chose to make his Terminators Fearless.

Predator
Whirlwind
(Looking at it now, I'm not sure if my opponent's list was over points or not, but not too worried about it)

My opponent won the roll to see who would deploy and go first (thanks to a re-roll from a building he controlled on the Planetary Empires map). He chose for me to deploy first.

I placed one terminator Squad in the large ruin where I had placed my objective and the other terminator squad in a smaller ruin on my left flank with the Land Raider transporting Belial and the Command Squad right on the middle. My opponent had done a good job of placing terrain to block/hinder my Land Raider's movement, so I had my work cut out for me.

My opponent placed one tactical squad in a trench where his objective was located, another Tactical squad with Plasma Cannon in a small building next to where his objective was (we determined that all buildings except the Bunker were armor 12). He placed the Command Squad in the Bunker on the left flank with the predator and Whirlwind partially behind the bunker for cover. And finally, his Captain and terminators in the middle of the board behind an imperial statue. My opponent tried to steal the initiative, but failed.

Turn 1:
The Dark Angels Land Raider and Terminator squad on the Left Flank advanced, with the Land Raider moving at Cruising Speed. I used Power of the Machine Spirit to fire with my Assault Cannon at full ballistic skill at his terminators and hit and wounded 4 times, but my opponent made all his saves. The other weapons on the Land Raider failed to hit thanks to having to shoot snap shots. The Cyclone Missile Launchers also fired but did no damage to their targets.

My opponent moved his predator slightly forward for a better shot and advanced with his terminators. He opened fire with the Predator and Whirlwind shooting at my advancing terminators, He hit with both shots from his predator, but the terminators made their saves. Meanwhile, the Whirlwind had tried to "snipe" my Cyclone, but he scattered and wounded two other terminators instead. The blast took down a terminator. The rest of my opponent's shooting failed to do anything.

Score: DA - 3 / Sal - 3

Turn 2:
The DA Land Raider moved straight for my opponent's terminators and Belial and his squad disembarked. The terminators on my left flank continued their advance. The Land Raider, my command squad and the Cyclone form the terminators on my objective opened fire on my opponent's terminators, but failed to kill any terminators. The Cyclone from the advancing terminators fired at the Whirlwind, but failed to do anything thanks to my opponent's cover. Belial then led a charge into my opponent's squad and issued a challenge. My opponent met the challenge with his captain. Most of the Command squad failed to do anything to the terminators, but the marine with the Power Axe took down a terminator. Meanwhile, Belial took down his captain, giving me both first blood and slay the warlord. His terminators killed 3 marines. My Warlord trait also allowed me to score one additional VP for killing characters in challenges.

My opponent moved the tactical squad that had been holding his objective forward into a building. He then opened fire at my advancing terminators and managed to take down another one. During the assault, my opponent finished off my command squad and thanks to Instant Death killed Belial as well, but lost one of their terminators. They then consolidated toward my Land Raider.

Score - DA - 6/ Sal - 4

Turn 3:
The DA Land Raider pulled back from the terminators while the terminators moved closer to my opponent's bunker. The Land Raider fired at the Terminators, but again they made all of their saves. Meanwhile, both Cyclones hit their targets. The Cyclone on the Left flank immobilized and blew the weapon off of the Whirlwind, while the other cyclone collapsed the building where my opponent's objective holders had moved to last turn. Unfortunately, none of my opponent's men were killed in the collapse.

The Salamanders pulled their predator back some while the terminators advanced toward my Land Raider again. The tactical squad that had survived the collapse, moved so that they were holding the objective while taking up as much cover positions as possible behind the collapsed building and the trench. The predator and command Squad fired at my terminators again and killed another. His terminators then chraged my Land Raider and managed to get a glancing hit.

Score - DA - 6/ Sal - 4

Turn 4:
The Land Raider again moved back away from my Opponent's terminators, while my remaining 2 terminators on the left flank moved around the bunker. The bunker had no backside, so my opponent and I agreed that the terminators could assault the command squad from the rear of the bunker. The Land Raider manged to kill a terminator, while my cyclone killed one of the command squad. The other Cyclone killed 2 tactical marines behind the collapsed building to include the missile launcher. My terminators then charged his command squad. The lightning claws did well, but my opponent made all but one of his feel no pain rolls. His command squad then killed the terminator with the cyclone.

My opponent again charged the Land Raider and put another glancing hit on it. Meanwhile the battle with the command squad and the final Deathwing raged on with neither side causing any casualties.

Score - DA - 6/ Sal - 4

Turn 5:
Not much happened on this turn. My terminator killed another command squad marine, but died and the Land Raider failed to do anything. The Cyclone hit two tactical marines, but thanks to their cover and night fighting giving them Shrouded, failed to kill anyone. My opponent advanced his predator and command squad toward the middle of the board while his terminators charged the Land Raider but he missed or failed to penetrate the land raider. His predator fired at my last terminators, but missed. We rolled for another turn, but the game ended.

Final Score - DA - 6/ Sal - 4

So, that's another victory for the deathwing at low point games. I always worried about the low model count in the past, but this army has performed admirably thus far. I think ultimately, my opponents just aren't bringing enough stuff that can deal with a land raider at such a low point game. Of course, with these two games under my belt, I think my opponents may remedy this issue in their lists for future games, so I will probably go with a low point ravenwing force next and see how my opponents deal with a fast army full of AP1 and 2 weapons. This game was a slaughterfest and was no easy win by a long shot, but I think that what got me a victory here was my aggressive advance and keeping my opponent on the defensive the entire time.

I usually haven't had much issue facing off against Vulkan with my Deathwing. Although, I agree, in this particular battle Vulkan would have been a pain...though at 1000 points he would have given up quite a bit to bring him.